Both the Gender-related Development Index (GDI) and the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) represent a “false start” in measuring gender equality. This is because they do not measure gender (in)equality as such, but an odd combination of absolute welfare levels and gender equality that is not...

This paper assesses the United Nations Development Program's (UNDP) Gender-Related Development Index (GDI). Although the GDI has increased attention on gender equality in human development, it suffers from several limitations. A major problem is that it conflates relative gender equality with...